Roland, on 05 January 2015 - 08:20 AM, said:
Except for setting up the manufacturing line, the logistics for moving materials to the plant, logistics for shipping the finished product to a retailer, stocking those products in some warehouse waiting for sale, etc.
Compared with delivery of digital content, which costs essentially nothing.
Physical commodities also require all of those things.. power bills, salaries, rent, etc.... While also requiring manufacturing chain support.
The only thing that guarantees a long term stable source of revenue is a healthy, vibrant community... because no one is gonna buy imaginary robots to play in a game that isn't fun, or that no one else is playing.
One of the most devastating things that PGI did to their bottom line was selling P2W clan mechs. While they are both freely available now, and better balanced, when the clans were first introduced they were CLEARLY P2W. Mechs like the Timberwolf and Stormcrow were dramatically superior to everything else on the field. And you could ONLY play them if you paid money for them. It was the definition of P2W, despite the foolish claims to the contrary by people who enjoyed being able to pay for the advantage.
And a ton of folks just said, "F this noise" and left, and they ain't coming back. Because they assume that PGI will just do it again and some point in the future. They have no desire to invest money in a game that is going to do that again.
I see your reading comprehension remains poor, since I did mention all those things like warehousing. But instead of actually getting the point, in your hurry to win the internet, you try to break it into bite size morsels, and lose the entire context. Good job, champ!
Aka, you are paying for the infrastructure, not the product, in either scenario.
But then again, on top of being an elite gamer, I guess we peons forget you are also a top tier programmer, and marketing major, too.
Edited by Illya Arkhipova, 05 January 2015 - 09:04 AM.